More than 35,000 tourists were expected to visit the island town over the three days.
For millions of Russians and many outside the republic, Tatarstan has long been a living example of centuries-old good neighborliness and brotherhood among representatives of different ethnicities and religions living on its territory. And, as the organizers of the new festival pointed out, this is one of the reasons why they decided to hold the “Spiritual Unity of Russia in Tatarstan – a Message to the World” in two completely different lands united by a common history and spirituality: the Orthodox island town of Sviyazhsk and ancient Bolgar. For more details, see the report from Realnoe Vremya.
1,740,000 people
That’s how many guests visited the relatively small island town last year. Counting the number of tourists per Sviyazhsk resident is a thankless task. The main difference is that in this land, all guests are welcome, and that includes those who flocked to the island this weekend. Some are taking part in the festival, while others are just there to see and hear what’s going on at the many venues.
Despite his broken leg, Vsevolod, the director of the Petrushka Papiermasheniki Theater, was not prevented from coming to Kazan from St. Petersburg.
“What? My arm isn’t broken! I can act, and I will,” the artist said, undeterred.
“He’s too agile, so we slowed down the leader to match the pace of the group,” his colleagues joked.
The group is really full of energy. Since the beginning of the year, they have already traveled half of Russia. Starting from St. Petersburg, they passed through Moscow, Ust-Izhora, visited Vologda and Perm, and then reached Vladivostok. Accordionist Ivan says that it is easier to list the places they have not yet been to than to recall all the cities they have already performed in. But even here the information is becoming outdated. The end of the year is still far away, and the troupe has no intention of slowing down. From Kazan they will visit their hometown of St. Petersburg, then they will be on the road again – to Rybinsk, Chelyabinsk…
By the way, speaking of energy, the creative team decided that theater alone was not enough, and a year ago another project was born – the Pritop Tritona music band, specializing in traditional songs, folk and hop.
“The Papiermasheniki Theatre itself is based in St. Petersburg, but the Pritop Tritona orchestra is a team from different cities: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Samara. We fly in, get together and perform together. Part of the repertoire is traditional music that we play, and we get together and rehearse,” Ivan said.
The group has an extensive performance program throughout the three days of the festival: they plan to entertain the audience themselves, as well as watch and listen to other bands perform.
467 participants
There was a lot to see and hear. Representatives from 10 regions of the country came to Tatarstan: 31 bands and 467 participants. The three days (26-28 July) were scheduled down to the minute, but viewers still had to choose where to go and what to see. There were plenty of venues.
But it all started on the island city’s central square, Rozhdestvenskaya, and it was here that the festival’s grand opening ceremony took place. The official opening of the program was performed by State Counsellor of the Republic of Tatarstan, Chairman of the Board of the Republican Foundation for the Restoration of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Tatarstan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue and Hero of Labor of Russia Mintimar Shaimiev.
“I thank everyone for gathering here despite the bad weather. The most important thing is to maintain peace. Our republic is an example for many people here. Our people have been through a lot, been through a lot, but we are a strong people. We are stronger when we are united,” Mintimer Shaimiev stressed.
The musical gift from the festival participants, “Many Years”, sounded like a wish to Mintimer Shaimiev himself, who put in so much effort to restore the Kazan Cathedral of the Icon of the Virgin Mary in Sviyazhsk, Bolgar and Kazan and to build Russia’s only Islamic Academy in Bolgar, and who continues to work today to strengthen inter-ethnic unity by creating a network of multilingual educational institutions across Russia.
Before leaving the stage, Mintimer Shaimieff emphasized:
“There is no need to be encouraged to love our country. Everyone should be friends. There is no reason for conflict. In the Republic, we have reached a good level of inter-ethnic and inter-religious understanding. I am grateful that we are all able to listen to each other, understand each other and live in peace as neighbors.”
Substitute and complement each other
Voronezh, Vladimir, Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola… On the stage at Rozhdestvenskaya Square and at venues all over Sviyazhsk, the bands took turns performing. The horn and gusli players took the baton to a choir, which then played folk songs, and then an accordion.
The Lazy Market was a time of popular merriment and contests of agility and accuracy. Craft workshops were held at the Children’s Kingdom. Mintimer Shaimiev, who stopped by to see what the young guests of the festival were up to, spent a long time with the young grandmasters playing sweet checkers. The children’s joy was boundless, as the pieces in the game were literally edible – for this they used colorful candies.
Here, the State Counsellor of the Republic of Tatarstan had a long conversation with the school student, Zakhar, asking him about his academic achievements and interests outside of school.
Afterwards, the official guests moved to the Nikolskaya Church on the grounds of the Virgin Mary Monastery, where the concert “From Monody to Polyphony” was held.
“On behalf of Archbishop Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan, I greet you all and congratulate you on this wonderful holiday – the opening of such an important and necessary event under the slogan ‘Spiritual Unity of Russia,'” Archpriest Vladimir Samoylenko, head of the Kazan Archdiocese, said in his address. “Archbishop Mintimer Shaimiev said a very important word that is engraved in our souls and hearts: I wish there was peace. How important is it? And how important does it sound to us? How important is it that there is peace in our lives, in our relationships with friends and comrades, in the life of the multi-ethnic people of the Republic of Tatarstan and Greater Russia? Because without peace of soul, we cannot talk about creation, about working with Mother Earth, about good harvests. The spiritual unity of our multi-ethnic and multi-religious people is the greatest value.” How can we continue to create without unity of heart and soul, peace and harmony? Peace, harmony and spiritual unity – what can be higher and more valuable than this?
“I listened to these words with pride and joy. We have enough difficulties in life, but the unity I have seen here on earth helps us overcome them. No matter what difficulties arise in life, the most important thing is to listen to and understand each other. This is what we are good at in Tatarstan and this is how we strengthen each other,” the State Counsellor of Tatarstan supported the Archbishop’s words.
3 days non-stop
From July 26 to 28, Byzantine and Gregorian chants, early Russian monody and polyphony, early part singing, a capella singing, folk bands and ancient instruments rang out in the Orthodox Holy Land. Lively plays were performed, round dances were performed and everyone was welcome to take part in folk games, master classes in icon painting and calligraphy.
The exhibition “Russian spiritual singing culture: book monuments and research” was opened for three days in the exhibition hall of the Sviyazhsk Historical Museum in the building of a former state institution restored by the Tatarstan TAIF Group. The exhibition includes rare book specimens from the collections of the Sviyazhsk Island Town Museum-Reserve, the Lobachevsky Scientific Library of Kazan Federal University and the library of the Kazan Orthodox Theological Seminary.
The final chords of the Sviyazhsk part of the 2024 festival were played by 8pm on Sunday, July 28th.
And the Spiritual Unity of Russia – a Message to the World – festival will take place on the grounds of ancient Bolgar from August 16 for three days. But with a completely different and unique program. The grand opening of the Bulgarian part of the festival will take place at 20:10 on the territory of the Black Chamber, followed by a musical performance by the Almechevsk band Khadim Almet. After that, everyone can become a spectator. Kara Pratt Opera. And this is the first of three days.
Admission to both the Sviyazhsk and Bolgar festivals is free, and shuttles are available.
Arseny Favstoritzky
Analytics Tatarstan
